PEOPLE v. BAPTISTE (2023)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (A. Kirke Bartley, Jr., J.), rendered March 31, 2014, as amended April 23, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of two counts of scheme to defraud in the first degree, three counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, and three counts of petit larceny, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of two to six years and restitution in the amount of $1,273,431.75, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.

The court did not follow the procedures set forth in People v. O'Rama, 78 N.Y.2d 270, 574 N.Y.S.2d 159, 579 N.E.2d 189 [1991]) with regard to several jury notes.  The record does not reflect that the court read or showed four of the jury's notes to the parties or afforded them an opportunity to provide input regarding the proper response to the notes.  Indeed, the record contains no indication that these four notes, each of which sought trial exhibits, were responded to at all.  While “[n]otes that only require the ministerial act of sending exhibits into the jury room do not implicate the requirements of O'Rama ” and CPL 310.30 (People v. Dunham, 172 A.D.3d 524, 524, 100 N.Y.S.3d 255 [1st Dept. 2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 930, 109 N.Y.S.3d 748, 133 N.E.3d 454 [2019]), notes that do not unambiguously describe the requested exhibits warrant input from counsel and are subject to O'Rama ’s requirement of meaningful notice.  Here, at least two of the notes that the court did not address fall into this latter category.  Because of this mode of proceedings error, a new trial is called for.

In light of this determination, we need not address defendant's other arguments regarding the jury notes or his challenge to the restitution order.